Abstract:
The purpose of this analysis was to use a Geographic Information System (GIS) to assess University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) student and employee resident locations in relation to transit routes serving the university and develop route options that capture the maximum number of potential UMD riders. Metropolitan Interstate Committee (MIC) staff acquired an address coverage map of the Duluth area and street addresses for UMD employees and students. By geo-coding these addresses (i.e., connecting addresses to map locations) and overlaying current and potential transit routes, MIC staff were able to determine the number of employees and students living within one and two-block buffer zones from the bus routes. Students and employees within these zones are referred to as the “capture” market. The analysis found that the capture market of each existing UMD bus route was only about half as much as the route that ran along 4th Street through the east hillside, but did not serve the UMD campus. This project illustrates how a basic GIS system can be used to conduct a simple analysis that can greatly enhance the knowledge of decision-makers. From this analysis, the DTA was able to quantify how well they were serving UMD’s population. The analysis revealed that current UMD routes were not capturing the area’s largest and most dense UMD student populations. This tool was not only useful for analyzing routes, but also provided an important marketing opportunity via direct mailings to particular addresses.
